Did a $200 home lab actually make me smarter?

Turns out you don’t need a data center to learn real tech skills. I scavenged old PCs, a Raspberry Pi, and some free software to build a lab that’s taught me more than any course ever did.

Started with a $50 Dell Optiplex, a $35 Pi, and a bunch of YouTube tutorials. Now I’m running a home server, tinkering with Linux, and even spinning up VMs for testing. The hands-on stuff sticks way better than passive learning.

Anyone else waste money on certs before realizing real gear beats theory?